I had a lot that were really special, but I guess, maybe, my Baby Dear doll was a big one. Later, Barbie's Dream House, the Barbie with the bending knees and three wigs, Barbie's sports car, Barbie's Fashion Shop (anyone sensing a pattern here?) I got a lot of enjoyment out of my brother's VacuForm and Creepy Crawlers machines too. His Robot The Commando was real good too.

Maybe, though, there was one that was most meaningful. I always got a baby doll (when I was young enough), and there'd be a bunch of other stuff. My mother had been hospitalized with a lung illness for seven months. She came home in November. My father had been paying my aunt (who quit her job) to take care of us each day, so there was very little money for Christmas that year. When I saw my baby doll, I noticed there was a flannel top for "her", and that it was obviously sewn by hand. I immediately "knew" that Santa wouldn't have left something so obviously hand-sewn, and I knew that my mother must have made the top for the doll in order to make sure the doll had a change of clothes other than what she came in.

I was seven and imagined my rail-thin, tired, mother making the pink top with a ribbon at the neck and naively believing I'd believe it was left by Santa. I was moved in a way she wouldn't have thought her seven-year-old daughter would be old enough to be; and I vowed to take particularly good care of that little pink top with a ribbon at the neck. Decades later, it is that doll shirt that stands out most in memory.

When my cabbage patch kid was stolen by the neighbor kid, my grandma didn't want to pay for another. So the next christmas I got a hand sewn version. Way better then the store ones! I still have that doll

What is is with us girls and our dolls?My most vivid Christmas present memory was getting a Chatty Baby doll -- where you pull the string and she makes baby noises.The "baby" version of "Chatty Cathy."

Does anyone know any person; a friend, neighbor, sibling, acquaintance, work mate e.t.c who is not a Christian? In the light of the Christmas mood and spirit, what gift do you think is best to share with such a person?

Some of my friends and family have a tradition of trying to outdo each other with strange presents - the wierder the better.Some examples of previous gifts are:- The mummified body of a rat that had been in a farm shed...